A day later, the gas pressure in the lines was still enough to run the hospital's generators. Many other generators in the area seemed to run off of an internal storage tank. The ambient noise had quieted down quite a bit in twenty-four hours as individual generators sputtered, out of gas. I could only hope that our generators would last as long as possible.
Kyra and I devised a plan to get gas. We would use an empty, gutted ambulance to carry as much gas possible back to the hospital. We would make three trips to be exposed as little as possible. Since we planned to go during the day, we would be able to avoid using headlights.
"All ready to go?" asked Kyra.
"You seem a little too enthusiastic about this." As much as I wanted to leave the hospital, which was half in the dark, I wasn't quite ready to. "What do we do if we come across someone?"
"Well, we treat them like a normal person of course!" she happily exclaimed.
I was skeptical about this. People could easily become violent over a disagreement in a situation like this. Especially if the dispute was over resources. The last thing I wanted to encounter was a gas station already patrolled and "owned" by a group of armed people. Kyra and I weren't without weapons ourselves, but a large group would still be a problem. All the hospital security room had were a few handheld pistols and two M4 rifles. Surprisingly, Kyra had a shooting hobby and was confident enough to use the rifle. I stuck with a handheld.
After an hour of training from Kyra, I could hold the weapon in front of me a confidently hit a large target no more than five meters away from me. (I probably won't be of much help if shit does hit the fan...)
Kyra grabbed my hand and pulled me into the back of the ambulance. "I'll drive," she said. "It's a pretty bulky vehicle." We pulled out of the garage and into the sunlight. It was a bit of a shock. Although it's important to take in an adequate amount of sunlight each day, I hadn't been outside since the beginning of this whole thing. "The gas station's only about a half a mile away. Let's make this a quick trip, no more than half an hour." I nodded my head in agreement.
When we arrived at the station, we quickly found a large amount of five-gallon gas cans. (Not the most efficient transportation method, but it'll have to do.) "What kind of gas do the generators use?" I asked.
"Diesel. but if we run out of that, nearly anything will work. The models that the hospital has can use anything, but fuels have varying efficiency." I quickly got to work, filling can after can. I was silently relieved that I didn't have to use my weapon. I had hoped that we might run into a few survivors though.
After fifty minutes, the entire back of the ambulance was full. We managed to fit about one-hundred-fifty cans in the back. "Ugh, I forgot how long it takes to fill up," Kyra said.
"Well, that didn't go according to plan, but at least we got seven-hundred-fifty gallons of gas! How long do you think this will last?"
"The hospital has one-hundred kilowatt generators... so I'd assume they each use about two hundred gallons a day when running at full capacity... but we don't need anywhere near that amount of power. If we use fuel efficiently, I'd say about a month." That gave us much more time to find other solutions. We could likely find a large number of solar panels somewhere if we tried hard enough.
The ambulance made a few odd noises as we drove it back to the hospital, but other than that, it was a smooth journey. It was nearly at capacity. We were lucky to have such a large model. Once we arrived at the hospital, we stored the gas in an empty area of the garage. It was surrounded by concrete and was the most inflammable place in the entire hospital. Once we had safely stored it, I could finally relax.
When we walked back into the lobby, someone was there. "Kyra! Hurry! Someone's here!" Kyra ran in after me and we both looked at the man. He appeared middle-aged, with black hair and a few grey strands. He was collapsed over the front desk. The most startling feature was his sweat. He was sweating profusely, and the droplets seemed to be filled with sparkles.
"Is that..."
"From the explosions." I finished Kyra's sentence for her. She began to rush towards the man. "Wait! I truly believe that this is a disease. We need to take proper precautions." Kyra looked at me and nodded as the man's breathing grew more ragged.
With an unknown agent that had wiped out nearly every human in at least the surrounding area, we had to take every precaution. We suited up in biosafety level four suits with our own air supply. We were completely closed off from the outside world. I'd had multiple experiences with this during university, but I could tell Kyra was experiencing some claustrophobia. We hoisted then man onto the stretcher and began to carry him the intensive care unit, one of the few sections of the hospital which were still powered in a "just in case" scenario. "Thank god," he softly said with his eyes cracked open as we laid him on the bed.
"He has a fever of one-hundred-five degrees," Kyra said. "I guess we'll have to treat him symptomatically."
As Kyra administered ibuprofen, I brought over the IV to give him fluids. He wasn't fully conscious, so we couldn't ask him for a full list of symptoms.
As I connected the IV, a bit of blood came out. "What the..."
"What's up?" asked Kyra. Then she saw it too.
The blood was a much lighter red than normal. And it was filled with sparkles.